Chapter Twelve: Formidable Skills

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Li Xia hurriedly opened his personal panel, skipping past the initial attributes and went straight to the skills section.
[Breath of the Sun (Incomplete Version)] (Novice 0%): During the activation of this breathing technique, strength is increased by 50%, agility by 40%, and perception and reaction speed are greatly enhanced.
[Skill Consumption]: While the skill is active, 1% stamina is consumed per second.
[Skill Cooldown]: None
[Skill Description]: Through a special breathing method, blood circulation is accelerated throughout the body, blood vessels dilate, and oxygen content rises, unleashing power and speed far beyond normal levels. However, the large intake of oxygen causes rapid oxidation in the body, producing a significant amount of free radicals, which shortens lifespan.
[Special Note]: Stamina is a non-quantifiable attribute and can be increased or its consumption reduced through various means.

Damn! Is this really a breathing technique? It’s incredibly powerful, unexpectedly so.
It’s essentially given him a flexible burst ability lasting 100 seconds. At first glance, the attribute boosts don’t seem that significant—only a few points.
But what if later the strength increase reaches dozens? Or even hundreds of points?
More importantly, this is a skill he’s just learned, and according to the Hall’s assessment, it’s merely novice level.
Will the bonuses grow with higher levels? Will the duration extend?
Especially since it’s tied to breathing—if mastered, Li Xia could control his breath to coincide precisely with his strikes, making the 1% stamina consumption almost negligible.
A skill with such minimal single-use cost but massive benefit is downright godlike!
If even this incomplete version is so useful, Li Xia dared not imagine the power of the complete version!

Li Xia wanted to stand and try out the breathing technique immediately but was caught off guard the moment he stood—his world spun as if he’d drunk two jin of strong wine.
A tearing pain surged through his entire body, and his chest burned fiercely.
“Cough, cough, cough...” After a heart-wrenching fit of coughing, Li Xia accepted a bowl of clear water handed to him by Tan Juro.
The crisp spring water flowed down his throat, quenching some of the inner heat.
“Thank you,” he said, his hoarse and rough voice like sandpaper scraping.
“Don’t worry, this is normal. You need to rest now.”

Tan Juro led Li Xia to a quiet room where Murata was already sleeping soundly in an unrestrained posture.
The excitement of learning the breathing technique slowly faded, replaced by deep fatigue.
No sooner had Li Xia touched the bedding than he yawned deeply and fell into a heavy sleep.

...

A night passed without incident.
Perhaps because the Kamado household hadn’t been this lively in a long time, a few children, missing the bustle, woke early.
The improvement in her husband’s health filled Aoi with hope, and this gentle woman began brewing the “Great Replenishing Decoction” before dawn.

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Thus, Li Xia and Tan Juro each held a bowl of tonic herbal soup and sat side by side in the wooden house’s corridor, watching the rising sun pour golden light over the mountains.
They casually discussed the bodily toll of the Breath of the Sun technique.
“It was precisely because I discovered that the Fire God’s Kagura exhausts the body to gain immense power that I deliberately omitted some parts when I passed it to Tanjiro, so he only learned the breathing itself...”
Tan Juro lowered his head, staring at the bowl in his hands; the clear medicinal broth reflected his gaunt face.
“Hm, Tanjiro... he’s a very good boy.”

If the guess was correct, the reason the breathing technique heavily exhausts the body is due to excessive oxidation reactions.
Simply put, human metabolism has limits—cell division is finite. Humans need oxygen, but oxygen causes oxidation, producing free radicals. As cell divisions decrease, aging accelerates.
A full-power breath cycle takes in a terrifying amount of oxygen, generating far more oxidation than natural breathing.
As for Tsugikuni Yoriichi... it’s likely that his cells are positively mutated cancer cells, capable of unlimited proliferation!
A natural prodigy!
This flaw is no issue for him. He couldn’t believe that in such a vast Hall, there was no method to extend lifespan or enable infinite cell division.

“Xia-kun, have you come up with a plan for that bear?”
Tan Juro drained his medicinal soup, and the dim red light in his eyes showed a faint glimmer of vitality compared to yesterday.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Although I can’t help you comprehend the full version of the Kagura, —”
Sometimes, male friendship is simple, and one day is enough.

“I already have a plan—” Li Xia also finished his soup in one gulp. Thanks to his 200% self-healing ability, the pain from last night had mostly subsided.
After so much experience, Li Xia gradually grasped the patterns of the trial.
The normal way to clear it would be to use the "Killing Bear’s" description mentioning the Yunqu Mountain bee royal jelly as bait to set an ambush.
It sounds simple, but in reality, it’s far from easy.
For example, digging a large pit covered with leaves and honey to trap the foolhardy bear harmlessly—or poisoning its food with sleeping pills.
That’s an insult to the bear’s intelligence.
Earth traps can be sniffed out; this isn’t fantasy—it’s very natural.
The soil’s scent is continuous and even.
Dig a pit, and suddenly there’s the scent of deep earth, which to the bear’s nose is like a glaring electric light in the dark—hardly effective.
Similarly with bait—whether poison or sedatives, to affect a creature as massive as an elephant in this era of limited science, the required dose would be enormous.
Either the honey isn’t honey at all or it’s some kind of demon blood art black technology.
Unfortunately, he could do neither.

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“Oh?” Tan Juro lifted his head, his previously still emotions rippling slightly:
“Does it have to do with Murata taking Tanjiro into town early this morning?”
Li Xia nodded. When he arrived, he brought a boat that needed Murata’s attention, which required Tanjiro’s help.
As a well-connected local, Tanjiro’s presence made both handling matters and acquiring some ‘sensitive’ materials far more efficient.

Having learned that Li Xia was prepared, Tan Juro stopped asking and began instructing Li Xia in breathing techniques.
How to maintain breath, how to smoothly transition between breaths—under such meticulous guidance, Li Xia felt as if his system was flooding with notifications.
[You have received the dedicated instruction of Kamado Tan Juro, Breath of the Sun (Incomplete Version) proficiency increased by 1%]
[You have received the dedicated instruction of Kamado Tan Juro, Breath of the Sun (Incomplete Version) proficiency increased by 2%]
...
[You have received the dedicated instruction of Kamado Tan Juro, and a sudden insight flashes—proficiency increased by 5%]

As the sun dipped westward, Li Xia came to his senses, astonished to find that in just one day the Breath of the Sun had stubbornly reached [Novice (100%)].
[Breath of the Sun (Incomplete Version)] (Novice 100%): While the breathing technique is active, strength is increased by 70%, agility by 50%, and perception and reaction speed are greatly enhanced.
[Skill Consumption]: 1% stamina consumed per second during skill duration.
[Skill Cooldown]: None
...

A spark of understanding rose in Li Xia’s heart—his theoretical knowledge was probably sufficient; what he lacked was the crucial breakthrough moment.
And this moment of insight could only come from extensive practice or life-or-death combat.

Closing the prompt, Li Xia was about to speak when he noticed two figures slowly approaching at the foot of the hill, their shadows stretching long behind them in the sunset.
Murata and Tanjiro had returned.

“Mr. Kamado Tan Juro...” Li Xia stood up.
“Interested in trying out—this weapon called a rifle?”

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1. Monthly ticket 2. Recommendation ticket